One Heck of a Night in the Museum
by Respeute
Summary: Edward Carnby, a tale told in the museum, the night everything went... Strange...
1. A Narrowish Escape from the Humanz

**A Narrowish Escape from the Humanz**

Edward Carnby. Once a hero?

No. Not at this moment. Not at this time.

The creatures surrounded him. He was outnumbered and all he had to fight with was a small semi-automatic and one spare magazine clip; barely enough to ward off the beasts approaching him. He took hold of his gun and readied himself to fire endlessly at the unfolding skin monstrosities that swung their arms and walked unsteadily in an uncoordinated sense.

Sarah was somewhere in the museum. To make matters worse, her whereabouts was in the opposite direction to the way the living-dead were driving him.

A roar of sheer anger echoed around the great hall, reverberating violently from stone pillars in the grooves of the detailed patterns. Edward glanced above him to see a giant human-like disaster leap through the air, blocking out the moonlight; the only source of light which lightened the pool of crimson blood at Edward's feet even more so.

"Damn it!" Edward cried. With his gun in one hand, he reached into his jacket pocket and threw a bottle of something flammable into the air and without thinking, fired several shots at the floating container.

As the beast hurtled to the ground it was engulfed in a fiery explosion and crashed to the ground, breaking apart the fixed and beautifully decorated concrete tiles.

Edward threw himself aside into the shadows. Each and every beast watched as their companion struggled, reaching into the air as its screams perished in a heated casket that soon devoured all remaining flesh.

Edward took advantage and shot to his feet, pelting his way through the museum away from the savage beasts.

Another penetrable howl rang through his ears and several human-like figures appeared before him. They swung their arms wildly through the air in a strange style as though they were trying to hit Edward.

Edward ducked and slid across the ground past the sense-less drones, picking up what appeared to be an iron bar from one of the exhibits. He hammered the bar into the next two drones ahead and slammed it into the head of another as he continued running through the halls of the museum.

The orange glow of night lights throughout the museum surrounded him. There was no such thing as silence. He had just watched one security guard become dinner for several Humanz. It was gut-wrenching as they tore at his limbs and chewed on his pale skin.

The thought kept repeating itself through his head as he battled his way past other slow-minded beings in the corridors.

As he continued into the depths of the dark museum, he noticed enormous, fatty residues smeared across an entire section of wall and seeping a russet liquid.

Cautiously, he stepped by it. Edward held his gun at the ready with his finger on the trigger ready to fire at any oncoming walking disaster.

Sweat fell from his brow. Either in fear, or exhaustion, Edward wasn't sure; he just knew he had to find her. He had to find Sarah. She never should have wandered off on her own. Edward shouldn't have let her. With these strange flesh-eating corpses walking around, it was the closest thing to giving them a fresh meal.

Edward knew there was no stopping; not when Sarah's life was endangered and it was partly his fault.

Panting uncontrollably and trying to keep his hold on his gun with endlessly sweating palms, Edward darted down corridors and destroyed sections of the museum.

"Ow..." he yelled as the newest thing to view was the moonlight ceiling above. His head pained him. His leg almost felt broken. Despite how much he was willed himself to continue, he was in too much pain to carry on.

Lifting his head slightly and feeling the ground around him, it was made clear he had slipped in a dark substance. With the moon directly above him once again, it was obvious it was blood once again.

He shot to his feet and wiped the sticky substance from his black jeans and leather jacket, but unfortunately as his luck would have it, a Human was stood behind him. It was not the ordinary human one might expect; a mere mutated, deformed human with its jaw sprawled open.

Edward's heart skipped more than one beat almost tearing apart as he watched the Human raise its arm sending fearful nerve impulses through his body.

This Human was too close to use any sort of flame power and so Edward moved aside as the slow-moving, yet hard-hitting beast flung its arm in his direction.

He fired at the beast once and watched as a maroon coloured spray flew through the air and across the body of a painting in the hallway. It howled and fixed its eyes onto the armed man making a narrow escape.

Edward could only think at this point, there was no way he could escape this, let alone find Sarah. The night so far had been incredibly confusing and so many people had already become victims of a race of inhuman creatures.

Checking through the pockets of his jacket, he found one bottle of first-aid spray. He couldn't afford to waste it on one creature. What if he was hurt? What would he do next?

As he sprinted through another great hall of the museum he staggered over excess rubble and tumbled to the ground.

It was less than a second later that from the ground emerged an arm, ripped in so many places and elongated to such an extent, it was definitely not human. It took hold of Edward's leg and clasped it tightly, forcing its claws into the Carnby's flesh and through to his bone.  
"ARGH!" he screamed, clenching his leg tightly and trying to free it from this beasts hold. Taking hold of his gun by the barrel, he smashed it into the beast's arm several times but it failed to let go.

There was only one other option. He had to use the last bottle.

He grabbed it from his jacket pocket and held it ready in his hand. The remaining body of the beast pushed through the concrete tiles and to the surface where its true horror sent a shiver through Edward Carnby's spine.

Flesh was strung from every remaining muscle and bone cartilage in sight. It had no jaw and all distinct facial feats of any human were lost to a rotting compilation of toasted skin. It screamed a deafening melody.

Edward Carnby threw the bottle up into the air and shot three times.

The first bullet hit the monster in the eye.

The second hit the creature in what was left of its torso.

The last hit the bottle as it reached the peak of its throw; right beside the beast's face.

A colourful explosion happened before him. The heat from the flames induced searing pains through Edward Carnby's body. The moment his leg was free he scuttled away from the flames and hid his face from the melting beast and fissure.

It seemed as though the flames engulfed him and followed Edward as he moved away, but it was no use as the melting creature had begun a journey toward him.

Edward Carnby felt as though he could no longer continue and stopped moving. Unfortunately the beast had done the same, and collapsed over the body of Edward Carnby, setting his whole body alight. The inextinguishable flames engulfed the two bodies.


	2. No Ammo, No Weapon, No Nothing

**No Ammo, No Weapon, No Nothing. You're Pretty much Dead**

With his remaining strength, Edward cast the burning body aside and shot to his feet in search of the museum's water fountains to extinguish his own body. His body ablaze, he was more or less a walking target for any passing feeble-minded beings.

Failed attempts in search of this fountain, led him to believe the best thing to do, was to;  
'Stop, drop and roll.'  
That's exactly what he did. Removing his jacket he rolled out the flames that surrounded his legs, Edward managed to take away the edge of this newfound burning sensation.

After scolding his legs beyond belief, he shot to his feet and stomped out the fire now destroying his once shining leather jacket.

Edward held his jacket by the collar and dusted it off. Beside the dust from rolling over the rubble-infested museum floor, there were now burn marks and holes through his leather jacket.

The howling beast on the other side of the museum hall stopped writhing and disintegrated leaving the flames to die away. There was no more fuel for the fire to burn.

Throwing the jacket over his shoulders, Edward went back to check that the corpse was actually dead. As luck would have it, it was more than dead. The fire and first-aid bottle had done their job perfectly. However the fire had scolded Edward's legs so badly, he could barely walk. Blood seeped through the burns in his grey jeans and streamed down his leg into the soles of his shoes.

But as any man would, he powered on in search of Sarah. After all his running, he was sure she was close by. She had to be.

He took his gun from his jacket and replaced the magazine-clip. It was empty anyway, and now he was onto his last few rounds. Changing the clip made Carnby feel strangely uneasy and begin to hope for another dead security guard whom he could 'borrow' another few magazines from.

He wandered through a blackening hallway. The shadow's caved in on him, leaving him in total darkness. This part of the museum's power had been shut down completely. He took out a torch from his jacket and flicked the switch several times, before whacking it against his hand and illuminating the entire corridor.

Before him hung a head of a corpse, illuminated brightly by the flashlight's white angelic light. Each feature was so distinguished it was unbearable to look at. An unsightly mangled torso fixed to the ceiling by a bulging sack of rotted flesh swayed calmly.

The sounds from within the sack unsettled Edward on his slow journey toward Sarah.

A croaking noise withered its way from the dangling head's mouth. Although it was open wide, the noise seemed so quiet. It wasn't what those beasts usually sounded like and certainly was not something Edward was in the mood to hear.

Ignoring it, he pushed ahead. The further away he got, the more irritating the croaking became. It escalated in volume as he moved further into darkness, with only his small torch to light the way. He glanced back at the dangling head, sighed, and continued forward.

The croaking soon became a scream that echoed at a nasty pitch throughout the corridor. Edward covered his ears and pushed ahead, limping into an endless tunnel with no light whatsoever.

The croaking thundered its way through the corridor until it remained constant for what must have been a very long thirty seconds. Edward stopped holding squinting from the pain of the cry and continued as though that incident never happened.

The white light ahead of him flickered. Edward tapped it against his hand and saved more light for about another five yards, until it cut out completely.

He was left in darkness. The croaking stopped abruptly. Edward glanced around in the dark. Though he tried to remain calm, he could feel his breathing escalating slowly, and his chest pumping countless amounts of oxygen through his system.

The croaking started again.  
"OH! Why won't you just shut it already!" howled Edward, whipping out his gun and firing two shots down the corridor in the direction of the hanging head. It was silenced instantly. In this strange silence Edward could only say,  
"Thank you..."

The croaking started again. Edward cried enraged back down the corridor, only to be startled by a second croaking at a lower pitch. He twitched his head aside, listening intently to the croaks as a third joined, then a fourth. It was enchanting, but petrifying to listen to.

Edward fired another three shots blindly into the dark tunnel. All croaks ceased. There was silence once again. He sighed and search through his jacket pocket, feeling around for his lighter.

The croaks started again, lengthening and increasing not only volume but pitch. It soon became a choir of croaks, sounding over ten at a time. Edward started again down the corridor away from the hanging head and choir of croaks, almost breaking into a sort of 'limp-sprint' to escape a certain death.

The croaks ceased altogether and shrieks hurtled toward him. The sound of hammering against the corridor wall vibrated the ground around Edward. He powered on, striking the lighter several times before managing to get a flame.

A thundering of feet began from behind him. Realising he couldn't outpace the speed the footsteps hurtling toward him, Edward spun around whilst powering forward, and shot again and again down the corridor. He could only see what with what little light the lighter gave and it wasn't a very far radius. It was as though he was shooting into darkness yet again.

Several shrieks were silenced, but many still prevailed. Edward could barely see the end of the dark corridor and was uncertain of where to go as there were many corridors branching away from his.

He took aim down the corridor again and fired, what he did not know, were his last remaining bullets. He fired again and again, but the clicks of an empty magazine rattled through his hand and his ear drums. Edward wanted to panic, but knew there wasn't even time for that.

Glancing forward, he noticed a small beam of light. It was as though this sign of hope compelled him to quicken his pace and reach his target. Sarah was closer than ever.

Without warning, he was struck over the back by a heavy hand. It almost knocked him to the ground, and was followed by another two pounds. Edward couldn't afford to look over his shoulder, as he already knew there were two Humanz behind him, waiting to attack once again.

The beam of light was within reaching distance. Edward outstretched his hand and threw his body over the 'finishing line' in relief.

As he burst into a small room with only moonlight from above, his emotions ran from 'over-elated' to 'drowned in hopelessness' within seconds. He rolled to the ground and avoided another heavy blow from the beasts behind.

They burst into the moonlit room, revealing the true horror of their faces to the only relatively human person in the room. Edward took hold of his gun, but remembered he had no more ammo.

Surveying the area in a quick scan, he realised there was nothing he could use as a weapon. He brushed his arms around his jacket and realised there was nothing he could use as a potential weapon.

The three beasts crawled toward him, followed by several drone-beings that wandered around the room aimlessly. Edward retracted himself from the beasts slowly. It was certain death.

One beast jumped at him, and began gnawing on his open wound across his thigh.  
"ARGH!!" he yelped, battering the dead being with the back of his gun. It was useless.

The second leapt onto his other open would and the third followed all sinking their teeth into his flesh and tearing at it viciously.

Edward stopped battering the beasts and gave into their eating behaviour. He was pretty much dead at this point and there was nothing and no one around to help him.


	3. Luck has Nothing to do with it

**Luck's got nothing to do with it**

Unsure of whether he was to live or die, Edward made one final, feeble attempt to ward the beasts off and waved his lighter through the air in the demoralised faces of the un-dead.

They hissed at him each time the heat wafted in their direction, resuming their 'chewing-fest' on his leg. The pain had barely started to sink in, yet Edward already felt as though he was dead.

"Hey!" called a feminine voice from across the room, almost light-heartedly. "HEY!" she called again. Edward glanced around the room in search of this woman, but his vision was fading rapidly and his surroundings seemed to detach themselves from colour and spiral around him.

"HEY I'M TALKING TO YOU!" she cried once again. The three hungry beasts stopped chewing at once and began a fast-paced chase at the mysterious voice through the concrete floor.

Several slabs of concrete tile were thrown up onto Edward's body as the Fissures dispersed through the museum. The crunching sound echoed through the halls and faded rapidly.

Edward lay on his back, confused but thankful. He barely had enough energy left to move the concrete block, however he boldly took hold of it and threw it aside. With his life endangered, finding a first-aid kit was now his only priority.

Starting his journey, Edward stumbled through the museum, clawing every box attached to the wall with desperate hopes of finding the kit; useless once again. It was no use. There wasn't even any point in trying.

Edward took hold of a museum exhibit and pulled himself up. He glanced around the dimly lit area. An uprising of hisses and demonic chants spurred from around him. His heart skipped several beats as an inhumane groan uttered from beside him. He leapt forward with the exhibit in hand; a replica of a strange dinosaur femur.

Using it for support and to attack, he swung it through the air and backed away from the ageing corpses dwindling slowly toward him.

"Edward!" cried the familiar voice. Edward glanced around to see a woman with a bullet-proof vest on her shoulders, hurtling toward him. The harsh sound of concrete breaking returned with a vengeance and monopolised the room's inhabitants with fear. "Edward! Are you okay?!" she called. Clearly, with blood falling from him like a waterfall, and his sense of imbalance, Edward was the farthest thing from 'okay.'

"I'm... Fine..." Edward answered half-heartedly, trying to figure out who this woman was and why she knew his name. She took hold of him and attempted to escort him away from a herd of walking bodies, but it was more than pointless as all three Fissures had burst through the ground on the same route the woman planned on escaping from.

"What is it with these things?" she asked, whipping out a pistol from her belt and firing relentlessly at the un-dead.

With a shriek, the Fissures were thrown aside by a chain of bullets allowing the two living humans to escape with ease.

Edward let the bone in his hand fall to the ground and lost all consciousness. His life now rested in the hands of a complete stranger who only had a recognisable voice.

* * *

Reopening his eyes, he found himself in a white room. The lights were bright white, which made it worse and blinded him. He had to blink repeatedly before gaining his sight again.

Surveying the area, he noticed he wasn't the only person in the room. There were security guards lined against the wall, all wrapped in bandages and slings, all seeping blood, and all silently bearing the pain of it all.

Edward glanced at his own body to see all of wounds had been treated and the distinct smell of clinical substances wafting from his clothes. It was too good to be true. 'Lady-luck' had found him and saved his life.

"You're lucky Edward." she started.  
"Excuse me?" Edward replied, shaking the sleep from his head.  
"Paddington sent me a message to go look for you."  
"Paddington...?"  
"Yeah, I've been looking for you all night, and when I finally found you, you were pretty much dead."  
"I'm not following you..."  
"Let's just say you're lucky I found you."

Edward felt something inside him slip. "Luck's got nothing to do with it." he uttered under his breath. He would've been fine without this woman. He could have tackled those Fissures by himself. He had already managed to survive worse.

"I saved your life!" she argued defensively, although she came off more aggressive. Several heads turned as she stood up to Edward. "Paddington told me to save you! That's exactly what I did!"  
"Oh really?" Edward began. "Where are we now then, still inside the museum?"

She paused, seeming dumbstruck by his question. "Those 'things' are outside this room and it probably wouldn't take much for them to get in-"  
"But we've been fine so far! Those things have barely scraped the surface of this room! It's a panic room for crying out loud!"

Edward looked to all the injured guards and back at the woman. "I don't think you've 'saved' me yet. Besides, Paddington sent me to find him here in the museum..."

After exchanging blank looks, Edward finally ended the conversation and took hold of as many magazine clips from the guard's belts and went straight for the door.  
"You can't just leave!" the woman cried.  
"Watch me." Edward grasped the door handle and turned it. "I'm in the middle of looking for someone anyway."

Yanking the door open wasn't the worst thing he could've done, but it certainly wasn't the best. Within seconds, and army of Humanz had barged their way through and started ripping limbs from the guard closest to the door.

"ARRRGH!!"

Blood was sprayed against the wall as his arm flew across the floor. Edward was picked up and strangled in mid air, until a shot was fired from one of the guards. Falling to the floor, Edward rolled away from the injured beast and cleared his throat.

The loading of weapons had begun and shots were fired endlessly at the onslaught of monsters entering the room, slowly creating a pool of blood in their path and forcing the survivors back into a corner of the room.

Edward took hold of a first-aid bottle and threw it out to the mass of monsters. He fired at it several times before an explosion finally erupted. The woman thrust a bench into the beasts leg as it flailed through the air, alight.

As it moved back, it set the other Humanz alight, creating a fire-chain.

Fortunately, the Humanz were dead. However this didn't help the fact that the fire had set just about everything else in the room alight, trapping the survivors behind a heated wall of energetic flames.


End file.
